Trust‐based segmentation

Purpose – Trust has proven to be a key variable in understanding and predicting consumer behavior in the self‐service technology and e‐commerce contexts. However, it has never been examined as a segmentation variable. This study seeks to investigate the possibility of using trust in two self‐service bank channels: internet, and phone banking, to segment potential users of these channels. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from a survey of 762 real bank customers discriminant analysis is used to test variables differentiating two groups of customers having, respectively, “high” and “low” trust in internet and phone banking. Findings – Results show that the groups of “high” and “low” channel‐trustors are different in a number of attitudinal, behavioral and psychographic criteria. In addition, the two groups react differently in terms of intention to use internet, and phone banking. Research limitations/implications – This work contributes to existing literature on trust by opening an additional use of and a new research perspective on trust. Its findings are limited to the sector, technology and cultural context of the study. Practical implications – In this paper several suggestions for bank managers to better target the adopters of self‐service technology‐based channels are discussed. Originality/value – This is the first attempt to examine trust as a segmentation variable and to bring evidence for its relevance for marketing decisions.